.. include:: ../replaces.txt

****************************
  What's New in |gf| 4.0
****************************

This is a major update to |gf|. The main changes is the introduction
of a new model bricks system. The old system is kept and compatibility
with 3.x releases is globally ensured. However some functionalities are
deprecated. The main changes are:

   Released version, 2009/09/19:

   * The mesh_fem object has undergone significant changes. Now it is
     possible to perform linear combination of degrees of freedom in
     order to describe some special finite element spaces. The main
     application is to obtain a finite element space reduced on a
     boundary or a curve. But it can be used also to prescibe directly
     some matching condition. The main change in the use of the mesh_fem
     object is the introduction of "basic" and "reduced" dofs. See the
     documentation.

   * A new algorithm gmm_range_basis allows to select a basis between the
     columns of a matrix. It has been specially designed to select a basis
     of the trace on a boundary of a finite element space.

   * The partial_mesh_fem object has been completely changed. It is now a
     lighter object which is intensively used in the new model bricks to
     obtain finite element spaces on a boundary.

   * Introduction of the new model brick system. The bricks are more simple
     to build and it is now really designed to the representation of
     coupled/multiphysics models. A generic manner to deals with time
     dependent models from static models is also introduced.

   * Python interface uses Numpy instead of Numarray.

All the old bricks have not been rewritten into new bricks. This will be
done gradually in the near future. A Scilab interface is close to be
finished and should be included in the future release.
